Saturday, 28 September 2013

Following yesterday's release of the “Summary for Policymakers”
of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Green Party leader
Natalie Bennett said:

“The scientific consensus on the causes
of climate change and the risks is clearer than ever. We are talking
about 95% certainty, and consensus of 97% of climate scientists,
about the impact of human action on amplifying the greenhouse effect,
which has been understood since the 19th century. Those who would
deny the science should not have a further place in this debate: the
Flat Earth Society continues to exist, but that doesn’t mean we
need to take it seriously.”

Natalie continued: “The debate now should be moving away from
the science and on to politics and policy. Britain led the way with
the Climate Change Act, but has failed to follow that clear statement
of intent with effective action. Globally, China and the US are
taking steps in the right direction, but that all countries need to
move much further and faster.

“The UK needs to maintain leadership, and benefit by leading in
adjusting its economy for the low-carbon future. Cutting our
addiction to fossil fuel use is good for consumers too. The massive
rise in energy bills that has hit UK households hard in recent years
is chiefly the result of rising gas bills. Fracking and the ‘dash
for gas’ are expensive dead-ends.

“Instead we need to restructure our economy. Green MP Caroline
Lucas has highlighted the risks of the ‘carbon bubble’ – the
over-valuation of companies based on unburnable fossil fuel reserves.
We also need to end the global $500-billion worth of subsidies
being paid for fossil fuel extraction, six times the subsidies being
paid to renewable energy.

“Investment in energy conservation and in renewable energy
technologies is the right choice both environmentally and
economically. The Centre for Alternative Technology has calculated
that the job creation potential of a zero-carbon economy could reach
1.5 million, covering a range of skills and sectors across the
country, all at least paying a living wage.

“Currently not a penny of government money is going into
insulating our leaky, poorly insulated homes, which are a huge factor
in fuel poverty. A serious programme of insulation – and of
building new, appropriately sited homes that are affordable not just
in rent but also in heating and transport costs – could together
deliver jobs, tackle poverty, and cut our carbon emissions.”

Bennett concluded: “A further important step would be to produce
the long-delayed transport strategy for England, replacing the
discredited HS2 plan with an approach that focuses on helping people
get between home, work, study and leisure affordably and in a
low-carbon way, with a strong focus on walking and cycling, and
improving the many ‘Low Speed One’ rail lines around the country.

“Today’s report makes it very clear that the world is running
out of time to tackle the threat of uncontrolled climate change, and
that climate risks to people here in the UK, such as flooding and
summer heatwaves, are even greater. Now is the time for politicians
to stop listening to the siren voices of the fossil fuel lobbyists,
and act decisively to put us on the path to zero carbon economy.”

Friday, 27 September 2013

Wembley residents are usually stoical in the face of football and music fans taking over their streets for events at the stadium, Arena and Fountain Studios.

These hardened survivors of Barcelona vs Manchester United trembled though at the news that Barry Manilow, and thousands of his fans, will descend on Wembley Arena for a two night engagement on May 13th and 14th next year.

Brent Lib Dems have revealed 'the compensation for loss of office' sums awarded to former Chief Executive Gareth Daniel and former Director of Finance Clive Heaphy as £200,702 and £140,508 respectively. Gareth Daniel went after a row with Muhammed Butt, leader of the council and Clive Heaphy went following his suspension pending investigation of allegations of gross misconduct which were later withdrawn.

The figure for exit packages breaks down as follows:

2010/11 – £3.502 million

2011/12 – £4.366 million

2012/13 – £2.311 million

TOTAL – £10.179 million

The Lib Dem claim that if it was managed more effectively this
money could have helped keep closed libraries open, fix potholes and
clean streets.

Gareth Daniel did not do as well as his predecessor George Benham. Benham got £700,00 compensation (including a car) in 1998 when Daniel, then an ex-GLC left-winger, was installed in his place.

Thursday, 26 September 2013

The crowded field of Labour hopefuls for the Brent Central parliamentary has been joined by yet another runner. Fresh from winning a council candidate place for the Willesden Green was, Bernard Collier has now set his sights higher, and has announced he wants the Brent Central seat.

After last week's flurry of letters to the Brent and Kilburn Times (and Zaffar van Kalwala managed it again today)we can look forward to the Thoughts of Bernard jostling for a place alongside those from the other candidates.

I have lived in
Kilburn and Willesden since 1986. Bringing up two children in Brent,
using local schools, GP’s and hospitals, has given me a thorough
understanding of the issues that affect people locally.

I began my working life teaching independent living and advocacy
skills to adults with learning difficulties. Since then I have run
voluntary organisations and worked with community groups (Refugee, Pre
schools, Senior Citizens) for the last twenty years. I have gained
experience of promoting their collective voice and influencing social
policy at local, regional, and national levels.

My varied experience,
including managing Sure Start outreach teams and facilitating Community
Networks for example, means that I bring both a passion for social
justice and a range of strategic and management skills to “make it
happen” in Brent Central.

The Labour party in Brent Central has a mountain to climb after
losing a nominal majority of 19% in 2010. It is vital therefore that the
candidate we choose has experience of representing, influencing and
negotiating on behalf of local communities. Someone with a good grasp of
policy and also a history of standing up for communities and fighting
for social justice.

I believe Brent Central deserves to have an MP who has lived a life
outside of the political bubble. Who has experience of the local area
and the problems facing local people. A fresh face untainted by some of
the negative issues that have dogged our party in recent years. Someone
to represent all the communities of Brent Central.

This is why I am putting myself forward to be the candidate for selection by Brent Central CLP.

The consultation on Stop and Search closed on Tuesday. In this open letter to Theresa May, the Home Secretary the STOPWATCHYOUTH GROUP tells her what stop and search really means to young people and why the consultation is only the beginning:

Dear Home Secretary,

Over the past three years, the StopWatch Youth Group has been campaigning,
educating and advocating for changes to stop and search policy and practice and
to improve the experiences of young people who come into contact with the
police. Our aims have been to bring young people’s voices to policy debates,
draw attention to the impact that stop and search has on our lives and empower
our peers to deal with stop and search in a confident and informed way.

We welcome this public consultation, and that you have extended it to
September, as a way to allow young people to respond but stop and search has
been debated since before our members were even born.
We feel that;

Stop and search is a tool
for the police to harass and bully people. It rarely targets the crime and
antisocial behaviour that actually harms communities.

The powers can only be
effective if employed as part of a wider crime fighting strategy - better
recording can help with this and also encourages the police to consider
how they are using the powers in practice.

Stop and search targets
play a perverse role in unnecessary street confrontations. Setting targets
for higher arrest rates is going to lead to arrests that may not have been
otherwise made.

Young people are
disproportionately stopped because we are easy targets; we do not know our
rights and feel bullied by the police for the way we dress and because we
are spending time on the street. We are treated with no respect; even when
we ask the police about the reason for the stop they threaten to arrest us
for not cooperating.

Young people are repeatedly
told we “fit a description” of a suspect and we feel we are given excuses
by the police to justify their search. When the police are not being
honest with us it is difficult to expect us to have confidence in them.

Special youth groups should
be set up and be given direct access to decision makers. Members from the
community bringing action against the police should be supported through
legal aid.

We currently lack faith in any official process and the
questions you have asked in this survey are very biased, framing issues like
“police bureaucracy” in a leading way. The Home Office needs to earn our
respect and trust by ensuring that all stop and search powers - not just the
narrow few being consulted on - are used in a much more intelligent, limited
and fairer way, which we hope will be the end result of this consultation.

Writing on Wembley Matters I have repeatedly criticised Michael Gove's neoliberal reforms in education, the privatisation agenda represented by academies and free schools, and the way the emphasis on test results and league tables narrows the very concept of education and deprives children of their childhood.

The Anti-Academies Alliance has recognised the may strands of this battle and I fully support their support for a National Campaign for Education.

In this report Alasdair Smith, National Secretary of the Anti Academies Alliance, outlines the issues and notes in passing the Green Party's opposition to the neoliberal vision.

Rumour has it that policy wonks in the DfE are hard at work on how to manage “market failures”.

Indeed the number of failing academies is soaring. But then ‘failure’
is hardwired into a system of rationed exam success, the ever-changing
goalpost of OFSTED and unbridled greed of ‘social entrepreneurs’ who now
claim they have a special responsibility to transform education. Peter
Hyman – pass the sick bucket please.

The wheels of big business intervention are in full motion. I have
looked, to no avail, to find figures on the increase in rate of
investment by education businesses over the last 10 years. My guess it
is huge. Rupert Murdoch’s re-branded edu-business – Amplify (www.amplify.com
) is clearly backed by huge investment. Not surprisingly alongside big
money, comes a whiff of corruption - nepotism, dishonesty and
manipulation swirls around the system – with exam cheating, pilfering
public money and appointing family members now part of Gove’s
dystopian nightmare.

Revelations that several academies have adopted Section 28 style policy
outlawing 'promotion of homosexuality’ come as no surprise. Deregulation
and privatisation - what Gove calls 'autonomy' - can be a licence for
bigotry. The outcry raised by the British Humanist Association report
has forced the government into a review but we will need hard proof that
no school has Section 28 style clauses in future.

The scandal of free schools is even worrying the likes of Graham Stuart –
the Tory chair of Education Select Committee. The huge costs, obvious
lack of value for money and, most disgracefully, the fact that free
schools are opening in areas where there is no need for places is
causing huge concern.

There is a ticking time bomb over the shortage of school places. Some
parts of London now have several 5 form entry primary schools and are
considering split shift education provision unless funding is
dramatically increased.

Of course Gove will point to the odd ‘success’ in his new world order.
But does he ask about the failures? And what will he do about them?

This means there is little chance to build sustained campaign as
happened at Downhills. Yet parents are still willing to fight. Neither
Gove nor academy conversion is popular. Gove is hated by the profession.
There is a profound sense that our communities are being bullied into
conversion.

People understand that this policy is the same as policy as the
privatising of the NHS. But unfortunately the patterns of resistance are
similar to NHS too, although the sporadic protests tend to be even
smaller.

One reason for the absence of serious resistance is that Stephen Twigg’s
criticism of Gove’s policies has been too muted. Other Labour
politicians have offered more - for example Andy Burnham's trenchant
defence of comprehensive education. In some areas Labour MPs have worked
hard to stem the tide and build alliances with parents and the
profession. But the few national policy announcement’s seems to be
little more than ‘Gove lite’.

Elsewhere the Westminster village is in thrall to Gove. We should not
believe for one minute that the Lib Dems are holding back Gove. David
Laws has been central to propping up elements of Gove’s agenda such as
Schools Direct and privatisation of teacher training.

Apart from the Green Party, a few principled MPs and a handful of
commentators, the political class remain wholly committed to this
neoliberal vision, or what Finnish educationalist Pasi Salhberg calls
GERM – Global Education Reform Movement.

It means we need to think long and hard about our approach to education
reform. There have been some bold initiatives. CASE, SEA and others have
created Picking up the Pieces. This has identified some key features of
what a good education system would look like. The NUT and Compass have
joined together to run an enquiry into future of education. Both
initiatives appear to be focused on persuading Labour to change its
policy going into the next election.

The viability of that strategy is a matter of some debate. In contrast
the AAA has continued to try to mobilise parents and staff in campaign
at school level, but with limited success. But it has also argued that
we need something more. We need a new vision for education that
stimulates a nationwide debate and action on achieving it.

The terrain has changed. We are not fighting a single battle against
academies, but a ‘war’ in several different areas of education:
curriculum, school places, primary, pre-school, teacher training and so
on. The scale and breadth of attacks is unprecedented.

If the terrain changes, the vehicle has to change

From the outset we argued that the academies programme was a ‘Trojan
horse’ to help break up state education as part of a much grander
design to deregulate and privatise the whole system. That prediction is
now becoming a reality. But just opposing academies and free schools
does not always offer the best opportunities to fight back against Gove.
Increasingly much of the secondary sector is now conditioned to academy
status. And although academisation is new to the primary sector, it
remains rare that single schools fighting alone stop conversion.

Our arguments about the real nature of the academies programme have
stood the test of time, but our ability to halt it remains limited. So
for the last couple of years the AAA has argued for a National Campaign
for Education (NCE) to unite campaigns to create a greater sense of
common purpose and above all to articulate ideas around what sort of
education system we want not just what we are against.

There are many other areas of education policy on which Gove is more
vulnerable. New campaigns are emerging all the time. The multiplicity of
different campaigns working on different projects and timescales
continue. Avoiding this sort of duplication of effort is a good argument
for an NCE. But here is also another more compelling argument. The
historic agreement between the NUT and NASUWT for joint programme of
action that began on 27th June and will continue on 1st and 17th October offers new hope of resistance across the profession.

Whatever the success of the joint action there remains a job to be done
for an NCE. It needs to keep alive ideas of what it means to have a
comprehensive, progressive and democratic education system. It needs to
engage in popularising a wholly different vision of education based on
key ideas of the Finnish system - equality & ‘less is more’. But
crucially this shared theoretical vision needs some genuine prospect of
realisation for it to have any meaning. So the NCE needs to have a
campaigning edge. It needs to take the debate on the future of education
into schools and communities up and down the country.

As was reported at the AGM in March, progress towards an NCE has been
slow. Support for it was agreed at NUT and UNISON conferences and a few
practical steps have been taken.

The AAA is committed to working towards an NCE, but there remains plenty
of work for us to do. Our primary function of supporting local campaign
continues.

Old St Andrews Church in Kingsbury is Brent's older building. The present building is probably 12th century but it is believed a church has existed here since Saxon times. In addition Roman remains have been found in the church's fabric indicating an even earlier settlement.

The grave's in the churchyard go back centuries and vegetation is kept in check by Community Payback workers. In Spring there are snowdrops, violets, bluebells and wild strawberries amongst the graves.

The old Church was redundant but has recently been rented out to a Romanian congregation who each Sunday overflow out into the churchyard, bringing life back into the ancient building.

Sad then it is to see that alfresco drinkers have strewn the churchyard with beer cans and other litter with carrier bags of litter dumped along the alley way/footpath leading to the church. When I last enquired about this being regularly cleared, Brent Council told me it was unadopted and therefore the street sweepers could only sweep it if they had some spare time. After the cuts they clearly don't have time, even more so in the season of leaf fall, so it is currently an eye sore.

I spoke to one of Brent's Labour councillors recently about the problems at the new Civic Centre. The councillor had been frustrated by unanswered telephone calls and inaudibility when they were answered. Now told that things may not be working properly for another 6 months the councillor was outraged, 'Why couldn't they wait until everything was checked and working properly before rushing to move us in?'

The Council's corporate risk assessment had recorded a risk with the telecommunications system before the move and the danger this posed both to the effective running of the Council and to its reputation.

The councillor added, 'No one is talking about it publicly but we all know how bad it is.'

Meanwhile residents puzzled as to why the now empty Brent Town Hall has a full car park need look no further than the Civic Centre. The Centre was designed to discourage car use by council staff and encourage a shift to public transport. Instead it seems that staff are driving to the Town Hall and parking there, thus avoiding parking charges, and walking round the corner to Bridge Road and accessing the Civic Centre via Olympic Way. That option will soon disappear when the French School starts work on adapting the Town Hall.

We are expecting the council to pursue the origins of the
fraudulent submissions of support for the planning submission as
reported in The Kilburn Times LINK and The Evening Standard LINK last
week.

We have been promised an investigation and report as soon as
possible.

Help us to keep up the pressure on the council to find out where
this dodgy support comes from by writing to the Leader of the Council
and your local councillors asking them to make sure the council makes
every effort to find out who is guilty of this fraudulent support. We
can’t allow local democracy to be undermined by such abuse of
the consultative processes of the council.

Help us to keep up the pressure on the council to find out
where this dodgy support comes from by writing to the Leader of the
Council and your local councillors asking them to make sure the council
makes every effort to find out who is guilty of this fraudulent support.
We can’t allow local democracy to be undermined by such abuse of the
consultative processes of the council.

Wednesday, 25 September 2013

BBC London News revealed last night that 12 tenders dealt with Monday's bio-chemical fire in Park Royal. They said that this was about half the tenders that will be available for the whole of London during today's four hour strike.

The FBU is striking over the later pension age and the danger that represents for both fire fighters and the public. Similarly teachers have been arguing in their 'Too late at 68' campaign that the stresses and strains of teaching means that later retirement is good for neither teachers themselves nor their pupils.

Tuesday, 24 September 2013

Teachers have more power than they realise to resist government
reforms to primary education, Professor Robin Alexander, author of a
wide-ranging review into primary education, has said.

The respected academic, who led the Cambridge Primary Review
– a three-year analysis of all aspects of primary education published
in 2009 - attacked the current "discourse of derision" in which the
government denounced those who disagree with its ideas was the real
"enemy of progress".

He was referring to a recent argument over the review of the national
curriculum in which 100 academics curriculum proposals as an "endless
lists of spellings, facts and rules" and were in turn denounced as
"enemies of promise" in a newspaper article written by education secretary Michael Gove.

Professor Alexander said at an event in London last night: "It's
surely proper to ask whether heaping abuse on members of the electorate
because they hold different views is what government in a democracy is
about.
"It is especially bafflingly during a period of public consultation
when different views are what the government has expressly invited."

Alexander is no fan of the current coalition government’s national
curriculum review, saying it uses international data with ‘eye-watering
selectivity’.

Alexander's Cambridge Primary Review contained 75 recommendations but
just one - start formal lessons at six - made the headlines, and the
report was consequently largely dismissed by the then Labour government and had commissioned its own overhaul of the primary curriculum.

But he pointed out that many of the 2009 report’s recommendations did
not need government action, they could be and were being, implemented
by headteachers and teachers themselves.

Alexander was speaking at the launch of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust,
a not-for-profit company with core funding from educational publisher
Pearson. The trust, based at York University, will carry out research
and training building on the review's evidence and principles. There
will also be a separate body to develop branded professional services
and materials for schools.

The launch event included a panel debate, Any Primary Questions?,
which was chaired by broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby. Graham Stuart,
chair of the Commons education select committee, was one of the
panellists. He said afterwards that he felt more political attention had
been focused on secondary than primary issues.

“It is important that primary community speaks up, rather than
despairing of politics," Stuart said. "One of the priorities of The
Cambridge Primary Trust is a policy dialogue and the Trust could become a
strong advocate for the world of primary.”

Monday, 23 September 2013

The bio-chemical fire earlier today at Midland Road, Park Royal, highlights residents' concerns about the issue of air quality in the area and the dangers posed by some of the local industrial facilities. The Kilburn Times report is HERE As the heavy smoke spread across parts of Ealing and Harlesden and residents were told to close their windows, questions were again being asked about the safety of plans for an incinerator in the Harlesden area. Ealing Council are due to consider the planning application again after postponing a decision in the summer. The plans have been opposed by Brent Council.

The photographs of the scene (below) were contributed by a local resident:

Following the Green Party Conference's failure to approve a full review of its education policy, in consultation with teacher organisations, parents' groups and students, it appears that the Labour Party has also failed to grasp the full extent of Michael Gove's neoliberal revolution.The following account has appeared on the Left Futures website LINKThe debate on the education section of the NPF
report, on the first day of Conference, was opened by Peter Wheeler
(NEC). Six delegates spoke: three prospective parliamentary candidates
and three union delegates (GMB, Unison, Unite). Stephen Twigg replied to
‘discussion’. No teachers, local authority councillors, educational
campaigners or university educationalists took part. This session lasted
36 minutes.

Although the nominal purpose of the session was to
debate the two sections of the NPF report devoted to education no one
spoke for or against anything in the report. It was a debate in name
only. Had the speakers read the education section of the NPF report? Did
they approve its contents? We will never know.

An innocent observer could be forgiven for wondering
why the party that came to power saying that its three priorities were
education, education and education could only find 36 minutes of its
annual conference for the subject. Such an observer might also be
forgiven for wondering how it was that all the Labour Party’s complex
policy-making machinery could result in educational material for
conference that passes no comment on the transformation of education
under the Coalition. Schools have been removed from local authorities
and made into “independent” units – often under the aegis of powerful
private sponsors. Local Authorities are being progressively removed from
the sphere of education and private operators play an increasing role,
but none of this seems to figure in Labour’s concerns.

How is it that Labour can present policies on
education which do not deal with these problem? The answer has to be
that Labour does not think that such things are problems. Labour policy
differs from that of the Tories/Coalition on matters of detail (which is
not to deny the importance of some of those details) but on basic
principles it would not be possible to get a cigarette paper between
Tory and Labour Policy.

In opening, Peter Wheeler for the NEC said that
Labour wants cooperation in order to produce the best education while
the Tories favour division and competition. And yet the reality is that
Labour and Conservatives believe that the way forward is to make schools
into independent units competing for parental choice. He said that only
Labour authorities were resisting Coalition policy. Sadly this is quite
untrue. Some Conservative Councils have put up more resistance to
Gove’s reforms than some Labour Councils.

Of the three union speakers two spoke about the
importance of teaching assistants and the Coalition cuts forcing a
reduction in their numbers. This is a good point but there is nothing in
the NPF report about this. One speaker called for the abolition of
tuition fees in FE/HE but this point was simply ignored as if it had
never been said – such was the nature of the ‘debate’.

The prospective parliamentary candidates tried to
raise enthusiasm with talk of Labour as the “Party of Aspiration”,
denunciations of the Tories on childcare and rising child poverty, the
demand for quality apprenticeships and the claim that the economy “must
be powered by the many and not the few”. However, this was all speech
making to move conference along and none of it had the slightest
implication for the NPF report which was supposed to be under
consideration.

Stephen Twigg replied to the preceding
non-discussion. He talked of growing child poverty and Labour’s plan to
provide child care as of right from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm. He denounced the
use of unqualified teachers and claimed that Labour’s “mission” was to
“place power and wealth in the hands of the many not the few”. This
radical sounding statement (which has no reality in Labour policy) was
immediately offset by an elitist discussion of opportunity. Success for
Stephen Twigg seems to be measured by getting to a “top university” (a
phrase he used three times in his eleven minutes on the podium). It
seems not to have occurred to him that if a small minority of
universities are designated as “top”, then by definition the great
majority will not go to them. Someone should tell him that if you focus
obsessively on “the best” you forget the rest.

Finally Stephen Twigg repeated Labour’s commitment to
providing high quality apprenticeships for all those who do not go to
university although he did not tell us how this would be achieved beyond
saying that firms with government contracts would be required to
provide quality apprenticeships.

For anyone following the dramatic changes to the
educational landscape in England the whole debate would have had a
strange air of unreality. None of the major political issues of the Gove
revolution in our schools were even hinted at. For the moment Labour is
still set on the educational course and the educational philosophy set
by New Labour. It is a path to fragmentation and division in education.
Its basis is in neo-liberal ideology and as far from a democratic and
socialist perspective it is possible to be.

Sunday, 22 September 2013

There was a lively and passionate debate at the Green Party Conference on 'Greens in Local Government' in which a position that Green Councils should propose budgets that do not entails cuts, and another recognising that the reputational damage to an anti-cuts party of Green Councils carrying out cuts on behalf of central government, may outweigh the benefits of trying to make cuts in a 'caring and consultative manner', were defeated.

Despite this setback a Green Left fringe meeting attended by some Brighton and Hove councillors carried on the debate, demonstrating that this issue remains live. The recent undermining of local government through financial cuts and the unexpectedly large cuts that will take place next year make this a genuine issue for all local councils of whatever political complexion. Are we content to be the Coalition's bailiffs?

Saturday, 21 September 2013

There was consternation when I revealed that the new flats at Willesen Green Library were being marketed in Singapore with the unique selling point implying that they contain no riffraff because there were no affordable homes or key workers on site.

The redevelopment at West Hendon on the Welsh Harp includes tower blocks of luxury flats clearly aimed at the international market rather than Londoners.

Darren Johnsons's report BELOW set out how this is part of the London Mayor's policy. The video puts the message over succinctly. How many more Brent developments will be aimed at overseas investors or buy-to-let landlords?

Labour Party members attending their
conference in Brighton this weekend, in the constituency of the UK’s
first Green MP, will be welcomed by a billboard making the case that
it is Caroline Lucas who is offering the real opposition in
parliament.

The digital advert will be on display prominently
on Queen’s Road – one of Brighton’s main thoroughfares. The
street is the main route down which Labour delegates and lobbyists
who arrive by train will travel to reach the conference at the
sea-front Metropole Hotel.

The ad starts with a check list,
against a red backdrop, reading: “Saving the NHS, Fighting
Austerity, Railways in Public Hands, Scrapping Trident.” As the
screen turns green, the billboard says “Brought to you by the Green
Party.”

The final screen displays a photo of Caroline Lucas
MP and reads: “Welcome to Brighton – Home of the True Opposition
in Parliament. p.s. Labour is down the hill on the right.”

Rob
Shepherd, Chair of Brighton and Hove Green Party, said, “We know a
lot of Labour members want their party leadership to stand up to
austerity and NHS privatisation, and to support progressive policies
such as public ownership of the railways.

“We wanted to
remind them that there’s an MP already fighting for these causes in
Parliament. It would be great to see Labour members using their
conference to encourage Ed Miliband to follow Caroline’s lead on
standing up for these causes, and bring together a powerful coalition
of voices to reverse the consensus that austerity and privatisation
are the only game in town.”

The Green Party’s own autumn
conference took place last weekend, also in Brighton. In her
conference speech Caroline Lucas criticised cuts to welfare and local
services, and argued that it is the Green Party, rather than Labour,
that is offering the real opposition to the Government's agenda of
austerity and privatisation.

She is speaking at two events at
Labour’s conference – a Compass panel discussion called ‘Labour
– an open tribe?’ and an Institute for Public Policy Research
event titled ‘The Condition of Britain’.

Her Private
Member’s Bill to bring the railways back into public hands is due
its second reading next month.

Friday, 20 September 2013

The Mayor expects 80% of new housing to be in these 33 regeneration areas

Darren Johnson, the Green Assembly Member, has published a thoroughly researched report on the London Mayor's approach to the housing crisis and the construction of luxury blocks, such as those at Willesden Green Library, which Boris Johnson supports as part of the solution. The full report is available HERE

The Willesden Green apartments are being advertised in Singapore with the selling point that they have no affordable housing or key workers on site. Yesterday it was revealed that flats in Stratford are being adverised in a similar way.

Darren Johnson writes:

It is much easier for the big developers behind these projects to get the finance from banks if they can sell lots of housing off-plan (before it is built). Investor landlords are quite happy to buy off-plan and have little difficulty in securing the cash or mortgage.By putting the money in up front they have, in the Mayor’s words,“helped bring forward housing development”. The Mayor estimates that one third of all buyers of new homes are from overseas, and that two thirds of all new homes are sold to investors

.

Whether it is a Londoner looking for a buy-to-let investment,a pension fund investing in new private rented housing,or an overseas investor exploiting the exchange rates, the Mayor is a champion of anything that gets housing built.

After looking at a series of case studies and examination of the evidence Johnson concludes:

National government policy has put
local councillors, planning officers and residents in a difficult spot. They are
constrained by a free market dogma that says we just need developers
to build more homes, and that ignores the potential for other
approaches.

The law of supply and demand works
with things we consume. If the price of TVs is high, produce more TVs to meet demand and
prices will fall. But private developers are very unlikely to meet
the demand for housing. If the supply of TVs doesn’t increase and
prices stay high then demand should fall off.

But when house prices rise people
see an opportunity to make money so demand can keep rising,
especially if investors from around the world join the feast.

The Government is encouraging
buy-to-let mortgages with tax breaks; helping people take out unaffordable mortgages with Help to Buy; encouraging overseas
investors to buy new homes off plan.

The Mayor supports these policies
because he says they increase supply, but of course they are also
increasing demand.In fact, they are probably more successful at
increasing demand than they are at increasing supply, so they are
actually making the problem worse.

Councils and residents can’t do
very much about this.

But the Mayor of London is in a
unique position to advocate bold changes to housing policy. He has recently argued that stamp
duty revenue in London should be devolved to City Hall, giving him a
large budget for affordable housing.

He could go further and call for a
housing policy that:

1. constrains demand
by putting controls or extra taxes on overseas investors and second home owners, or by putting a tax on
all land values to dampen speculation and stop developers sitting on
large, unused land banks2. gives councils,
housing associations and co-operatives the money and powers to build affordable homes that stay
affordable forever whatever the market is doing, instead of expecting the private market to
build them3. puts ordinary
people in a better position to weather the crisis while it is
tackled, for example with continental-style stabilising rent controls
and protections for private tenants, ideas backed by the majority of the
Assembly in its own reviews of housing and its majority support for the Let Down campaignComments can be sent to: darren.johnson@london.gov.uk or the researcher tom.chance@london.gov.uk

In
association with Spread the Word, spoken word poet and MC Simon Mole
leads this taster workshop on Thursday 26th September at Wembley Library (Civic Centre) opposite Wembley Arena. 4pm to 6pmTry your hand at Freestyling and Spoken
Word… and create a piece of your own that you can perform along with
Simon and other poets such as Raymund Antrobus, Adam Kammerling and
Deanna Rodger at the Chill Pill Open Mic at the Brent Civic Centre Opening Ceremony on Sunday 6 October.Simon
will also be running workshops on Sunday 6 October at 12.30pm and
2.30pm, where you can create more poems and raps, and prepare for your
Chill Pill moment….www.simonmole.comwww.chill-pill.co.uk

Last
night's West London People's Assembly was certainly a lively affair
with many passionate speeches but I was a little concerned when I saw
the chair of the meeting and 5 speakers on the platform. There was some
anxiety at the main People's Assembly at Central Hall that it would be
more of a rally than an organising meeting. In the event it was a bit of
both. I was concerned that this local assembly, covering Brent,
Hammersmith & Fulham and Ealing, would also be more of a rally,
although surely that must be where we analyse and prioritise local
issues and our strategy?

Although speakers were keen to
say they would not just describe how awful things are it inevitably
becomes the main theme topped off with rousing calls for action and
unity. This certainly raises morale but doesn't get down to the nitty
gritty. Advertising trains and coaches for the Tory Party demonstration
on September 29th is important but what are the next steps in keeping
our local A&Es open or fighting the privatisation of our schools?
How relevant is it to organise across boroughs when local councils, even
of the same political complexion, are dealing with the cuts in such
different ways?

Next month there will be a founding
meeting of the West London People's Assembly where its structure will be
decided and officers elected and perhaps these issues will be discussed
then.

As a common issue across the boroughs, and of
course a national issues, the future of the NHS was prominent in the
speeches and contributions as was the general theme of the poor being
made to pay for the bankers' crisis, and the demonising of the poor by
politicians and media in an effort to divide and rule. The focus on the real human stories behind austerity made us both more angry and more determined.

It was good that the Campaign Against Climate Change shared the platform with UK Uncut, hospital campaigners and trade unionists. Suzanne Jeffrey for CaCC made some telling points comparing the economic and climate crises.

She said government and bankers knew the system was a sham but pretended there was no problem or indeed that they were creating the problem, and when the crisis broke blamed it on over spending in the public sector and making the poor pay. Government and industry similarly pretended there was no problem with climate change, denying their role in creating and increasing the problem, and then shifted the responsibility on to ordinary people and their life styles, or even worse on to people in developing countries.

Having just returned from the Green Party it was interesting to note that many of the solutions that Owen Jones proposed in his summing up are in fact Green Party policy.

Cllr Michael Pavey has written to local MPs Barry Gardiner, Sarah Teather and Glenda Jackson asking them to support the 'School Places Crisis Campaign'. The campaign seeks the restoration of power to local authorities to plan and build new schools to address the current shortage of primary school places.

The campaign has already been supported by Green MP Caroline Lucas and Natalie Bennett, Green Party leader.

As you know, we have a terrible shortage of school places in Brent.
As a Council we are proactively expanding our schools and opening up
additional spaces such as the Gwenneth Rickus Building. Yet even with
all these additional forms of entry the shortage
continues.

Personally I believe the diversion of precious public money into
Free Schools is a terrible distraction from the urgent challenge of
providing additional places. It is absolutely essential that, rather
than sitting back and hoping that appropriate providers
establish appropriate Free Schools in appropriate locations, Government
policy allows for the strategic planning of new school places. I firmly
believe that this function is best performed by local authorities.

To meet the ongoing shortage of school places it is absolutely
essential that the law be changed to allow Councils to open new
schools. I would be very interested to get your thoughts and would
strongly encourage you to support the NUT campaign in the
interests of Brent families.

Campaigners are celebrating after the application to convert Kensal Rise library into flats with a token library/community space was unanimously rejected by Brent Planning Committee on the recommendation of officers.

The battle to retain the building is not yet won but this is an important victory.

Wednesday, 18 September 2013

Affordable family housing in the Wembley Stadium regeneration area seems even further away after this announcement:

Developer Unite Group has purchased a one acre
development site in north west London's Wembley for a mixed-use student
accommodation and retail scheme.18 Sep 2013

Unite's plans for the site, which is currently occupied by a car
park, include the construction of student housing to accommodate 700
students as well as 10,000 square feet of space for shops.

The site is located within the Wembley Park regeneration area, which
also includes plans for new homes, shops and offices to be built around
Wembley Stadium.

Subject to planning consent, the scheme will be developed by the
London Student Accommodation Vehicle (LSAV) which is a joint venture
between Unite and GIC Real Estate.

“This development is the third scheme to be secured as part of our
LSAV joint venture, representing 65% of our target, and demonstrates
UNITE’s knowledge and experience in sourcing the best locations for
student accommodation," said Unite managing director of property Richard
Simpson in a statement.

"As well as being a key milestone in the Group’s development
strategy, this site is close to the shops, entertainment and excellent
transport links of Wembley Park, including the London Designer Outlet,
and will strongly appeal to students,” he added.

Following the failure of my motion at Green Party Conference calling for a review if our education policy in the light of Michael Gove's reforms it is interesting to read today's report by Professor Sir Tim Brighouse for the New Visions for Education Group. The report 'Improved National Decision Making About Policy and Practice for Schools' sets 5 key test questions for improved decision making in education.

This key question is particularly pertinent to what I argued at Conference:

Assuming the context of the desirability of the principle of
democratic accountability and subsidiarity, will the proposed change increase
or decrease the power of the centre and the Secretary of State?’We have referred to the fact that the Secretary of State now has many more
powers than was once the case. As we have outlined earlier however there is the need for democratic
accountability and originally it was envisaged that much of that could and
should be exercised locally. We agree with that starting point not least
because we think that local knowledge can be powerful in securing equity for
individual pupils and their parents.Some of the powers which the Secretary of State has acquired should be taken
away from him. It is astonishing that a system has been created whereby schools
(in the form of Academies and Free Schools) have in effect been nationalised
and are subject to private contract law to the Secretary of state who controls
them in what they do. It is surprising too that parental complaints should be
handled not by local government nor by an ombudsman but by the Secretary of
State.There are some powers of course which are best held
centrally- for example securing an adequate supply of suitably qualified
teachers and making sure that scarce capital resource is distributed fairly and
to minimum acceptable standards. They are functions of planning which is
necessary to secure equity. It makes no sense for the Secretary of State to
abandon the duty in this respect, as has recently been done, as it will lead to
shortages of teachers and schools with inadequate space and facilities. But
there are other powers which are best exercised locally. A guiding principle of
subsidiarity should start from the assumption that powers are best exercised
and held democratically accountable locally.

What a pity I have a Green Party meeting tonight. I would have liked to attend the Brent Planning Committee taking place this evening at the Civic Centre after the revelation today that a large number of emails sent in to support the Kensal Rise Library redevelopment were fake. See Kilburn TimesLINK

The facts will be reported to the planning committee which is due to hear representations from campaigners against the development. I presume the developer Andrew Gillick will make a presentation to the Committee. I hope one of the councillors will 'do a Margaret Hodge' and subject him to some some close questioning.

Meanwhile if the police are called in I suggest they also investigate similar claims over the Willesden Green Library regeneration.

This afternoon the owner of the Gracelands Cafe and Yard found she had been listed as a supporter of the development while away on holiday. The story emerged on Twitter:

It seems a long step from the Lidl supermarket on one side of Blackbird Hill in Kingsbury and a possible iron age settlement on the other, but that is the possibility revealed by the archaeological dig taking place on the site of the demolished Blarney Stone pub, previously the Blackbird.

This was the site of Blackbird Farm or Blackbird Hill Farm, perhaps also known as Black Pot Farm, which occupied the site on Blackburd Hill for centuries:

Just how long a farm stood there may be answered by the dig which is in its last fortnight. We know it was there in 1597 but not how long before that. The archaeologists have got back to a packed clay floor which still has to be dated and a 16th century drain.

16th century drain

Most of the rest of the building appears to be 18th century and some post medieval red pottery has been found.

The excavation site

18th century grain store footings (corner of Old Church Lane and Blackbird Hill)

The site is beside the Saxon Eldestrete track which is thought to have run from Westminster, through Willesden and Neasden, to what is now Fryent Country Park and on to Hertfordshire. There are still remains of the track in the country park. It is conjectured that there may well have been settlements off the track. Furthermore, the finding of some Roman remains at the nearby Old St Andrew's Church has even raised hopes of some evidence of a Roman villa but that is really an outside chance. So far in London villas have only been found in the City of London itself or on the outskirts of Greater London.

More will be revealed (perhaps) when the layer so far uncovered is removed to see what lies beneath.

The remains will be recorded and stored in archives before the site is built on to provide 34 flats, two houses and an underground car park.

I am grateful to UCL and the Wembley History Society for inviting me to visit the site.

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